Monthly Archives: August 2012

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In the Spring, Associate Pastor Nancy Ross-Zimmerman approached me with the idea of lettering and illuminating phrases from Romans 12, in Northminster Presbyterian Church’s Commons room. After meeting with the art committee-Rich Schafermeyer, Gary Lord and Helen Haberstroh, I was off and lettering! First I sketched 3 styles on graph paper.

Uncial was their choice, so on a long roll of brown paper I lettered the words, in a first attempt to see how the words might look.

Next, I traced over the letters on a 12″x 50′ white tracing paper, refining them as I went.

While standing on a rolling scaffold, compliments of Gary Lord of Prismatic Painting Studios, I taped the 50′ long sketch along each of the two soffits in the Commons Room.

Fifteen to eighteen feet off of the ground.

After tracing it onto the walls, the painting began. I used eight colors of Sherwin-Williams paint. Each letter was painted twice and a highlight was added.

Ten illuminated letters were also a part of the project, one at the start of each phrase. 23k loose leaf gold was applied as well.

After about 123 hours of work, the last flourish appropriately was put on the word ‘Love’. Then, it occurred to me how much this project was food for the soul. Matthew 4:4 says “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. How fitting that my palette was a church dinner plate!

My hope is that those who read these Romans 12 words will find encouragement and strength. A big thank you to the dear people of Northminster Presbyterian – it was a delight and a gift to work with you on this project!